Cardinals win 7-2 in battle of archrivals

Jacksonville’s C.J. Sparks (10) looks to pass the ball as White Oak’s Gabe Krueger (16) and Nick Hall defend during the Cardinals’ 7-2 win over the Vikings on Wednesday.

John Sudbrink/The Daily News

By Chris Miller-Prep Sports Writer

Published: Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 10:15 AM.

Jacksonville left no doubt Wednesday night why it is the top-ranked 3-A team in the state.

Sophomore C.J. Sparks scored 3 goals to help the Cardinals pull away for a 7-2 victory over White Oak in a game featuring the top two teams in the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 3-A ranking.

As if this game between the Coastal 3-A Conference rivals needed any extra incentive, Jacksonville entered No. 1 and White Oak No. 2 in the poll, which was released Sunday.

However, the Cardinals (12-1, 7-0) managed to weather the Vikings’ early possession advantage to extend its 15-game unbeaten streak over White Oak (12-1, 6-1), dating back to the 2005 regular-season finale.

“I thought, overall, the opportunities we had, we took advantage of tonight,” Jacksonville coach Dave Miller said. “That’s the difference in the score.”

Sparks, a forward, once again led the Cardinals’ attack, scoring both of Jacksonville’s first-half goals. He now has 13 goals in the last four games.

“I think our counter attack was pretty important today,” Sparks said. “After we won the ball, defensively we would attack as quickly as possible and get down the line and finish.”

Jacksonville left no doubt Wednesday night why it is the top-ranked 3-A team in the state.

Sophomore C.J. Sparks scored 3 goals to help the Cardinals pull away for a 7-2 victory over White Oak in a game featuring the top two teams in the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 3-A ranking.

As if this game between the Coastal 3-A Conference rivals needed any extra incentive, Jacksonville entered No. 1 and White Oak No. 2 in the poll, which was released Sunday.

However, the Cardinals (12-1, 7-0) managed to weather the Vikings’ early possession advantage to extend its 15-game unbeaten streak over White Oak (12-1, 6-1), dating back to the 2005 regular-season finale.

“I thought, overall, the opportunities we had, we took advantage of tonight,” Jacksonville coach Dave Miller said. “That’s the difference in the score.”

Sparks, a forward, once again led the Cardinals’ attack, scoring both of Jacksonville’s first-half goals. He now has 13 goals in the last four games.

“I think our counter attack was pretty important today,” Sparks said. “After we won the ball, defensively we would attack as quickly as possible and get down the line and finish.”

Junior Tyler Moore added a pair of goals and senior Aaron Sparks had a goal along with 2 assists to C.J. Sparks, his little brother. The Cardinals’ Cormick Brennan added a penalty kick goal to give his squad a 7-1 lead.

“Jacksonville is very technically sound and they played well. They were the better team,” White Oak coach Buddy Carroll said. “We didn’t show up to play the way I know we can play. We didn’t do a great job possessing the ball in this game. The difference in this game is that they capitalized on the opportunities they had and we didn’t.”

Jacksonville struck first with 16:39 left in the first half, going up 1-0 when C.J. Sparks played a short diagonal pass from Aaron Sparks and delivered a shot from the right side of the 18-yard box over White Oak goalkeeper Josh Helms.

Nearly 10 minutes later, C.J. Sparks scored his second goal, this one off a long diagonal pass from Aaron Sparks.

From there it was all Jacksonville, not only on the scoreboard, but also in possession.

“We moved the ball and I thought we did a decent job of changing the point of attack,” Miller said. “We really found the seams and played up top to get combinations to get behind.”

Already leading 3-1, the Cardinals put the game away with three goals in a seven-minute span early in the second half. Moore booted the first two goals in the stretch, with both scores coming after Jacksonville free kicks were blocked by Helms.

Aaron Sparks later scored off an assist from Warren Washington.

“We felt if we put them away early then we could keep scoring,” Jacksonville senior defender Blake Heatherly said. “That’s what we did.”

Despite being allowing two goals in the first 40 minutes, the Vikings had the better play in the first 15 minutes and had their chances to score.

In the eighth minute, White Oak’s Troy Jurney had a point-blank shot with Jacksonville goalie Zach McCracken out of position, but pushed it wide right. About five minutes later, the Vikings’ Victor Bernard had a 1v1 shot blocked by McCracken.

Then with Jacksonville leading 2-0 with six minutes left in the opening half, Jurney had a 1-on-1 shot blocked by McCracken, who ended with 3 saves.

“It’s a different game if we don’t miss those three opportunities early on,” Carroll said. “I think it did (deflate White Oak) a little bit. I said it before that we needed to make sure we didn’t miss quality opportunities early. It came back to bite us.”

Miller called McCracken’s save on Jurney’s second point-blank look was big.

“Zach came up with a big save,” he said. “A goal makes it 1-1 and we are back in a battle and they (Vikings) ride the emotion again. And who knows what happens?”

White Oak did find the net twice as senior Gabe Aquino scored to cut Jacksonville’s lead to 3-1 with 36:45 left after a corner kick from Gabe Krueger. The score came just 1:05 after Moore’s first goal. The Vikings’ Kevin Gonzalez scored his team’s final goal with two seconds left after another corner kick.

Still, White Oak was unable to score on the attack.

“The pressure was a lot better and our composure in the back (was key),” Heatherly said. “We kept our shape in the back well, which is something we’ve had trouble with.”

Limiting the touches from White Oak’s forwards played in Jacksonville’s favor.

“We just did a good job of keeping them in front,” Miller said. “We limited their opportunities to get behind. We did a good job on defense really staying with our game plan.”

But while pleased with his team’s overall performance, Miller didn’t get took overly excited about the big victory. He understands round two of the Cardinals-Vikings series this season will be Oct. 25 at Jacksonville, with a third meeting in the playoffs always a possibility.

Jacksonville went 2-0-1 last year against White Oak with the second win coming in the second round of the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs.

“We will see them again in the last game of the season and more likely we will end up playing each other in the playoffs,” Miller said. “But I hope there’s a message here. You got to come to play.”